Review - BEACH BOYS: A VOCAL ELEMENT

Cal - maybe you missed my review of A Vocal Element on the smile shop - I"ll post it below. No new CD or DVD material has surfaced to my knowledge, but according to Hang Ten there's more live shows to come on CD.

Review of A Vocal Element – live in 1967

Review of Disc One:

After a promo with Brian and Carl, first up is the tour opening concert in Detroit on 11/17/67. It’s an excellent soundboard recording in stereo, but compared to the DC concert 11/19 (on Goodbye Surfing, Hello God) there’s more tape hiss and the mix is rougher with at times harsh vocals or a harsh sounding blend of vocals and instruments. Likely this is because it’s the first concert on the tour and Stephen is still adjusting the soundboard mix. The organ is a bit louder than on the DC concert, which is welcome as you really had to listen hard to pick it out on that recording. But overall the performances are sloppier than 11/19 – understandable as this is the first concert of the tour.

I’m a little confused as to who’s playing what – Mike clearly announces on the concert from Boston 11/23/67 that Darryl is playing organ and Ron is “alternating between bass and rhythm instruments.” So Bruce must be playing piano – but piano is not on all the selections, perhaps he switches to bass on cuts where there’s no piano (and Ron switches to rhythm instruments? Guitar? Which would make two rhythm guitars with Al on rhythm?).

1. Barbara Ann opens the concert – there’s organ, no piano, and the vocals are a bit rough with the usual side comments during the song. Interestingly, the DC concert has piano on this song, and in the break there’s a piano solo (all the other concerts have a guitar solo in the break).

2. Darlin’ – piano and organ, the ending isn’t worked out yet, it just kind of stops.

Mike mentions this is from their upcoming album, which he says they are plugging: “If your album sold like our last album, you’d be plugging too . . . also treading and paddling and everything else.”

3. Country Air – piano, a nice version but the vocals are a little tentative. Country Air is dropped from the set list after this performance, apparently. They probably thought it slowed the tempo of the set down too much, which it does at this point (they should have placed it further down the set list IMO). They may also have been concerned about having too many unfamiliar songs in the set (the Wild Honey album wouldn’t come out until Dec 18).

4. I Get Around – organ. Mike flubs a verse – forgets the lyrics apparently.

5. How She Boogalooed It – organ. Some of the lyrics are dropped, but the song rocks out – unfortunately this is the last time this song makes the set list. It’s replaced by Surfer Girl in the subsequent concerts.

6. Wouldn’t It Be Nice – organ, no piano I could hear. Al sings lead, vocals are tentative.

7. God Only Knows – organ and piano – vocals are very muted, sounds like the Hawaii version vocally. Which is not a great thing IMO (not much energy to the performance).

8. California Girls – piano and organ. Mike introduces as “one of my favorite cowboy songs” – was he thinking of Child is Father to the Man? Guitar plays the break part just before the end that’s played by organ in the single, which is weird since they have someone on the organ to play that part. Breaks down at the end over confusion as to which ending they are doing, after which they play both endings for the audience to decide which they like better – the first is the standard cold ending (on the DC concert version), on the second the instruments drop out and then piano, bass, and tambourine play softly behind a nice multi-part vocal coda, similar to the Lei’d in Hawaii version. The audience laughs at some of the doo doo doo vocal flourishes and Mike says that’s the last time they’ll be playing it that way. And it is.

9. Wild Honey – piano and organ, theremin (well really Tannerin). Mike gives a shout out to Steve when he starts fiddling with the Tannerin. Gets huge applause when they start the song – I guess this was in the charts at the time – it was released Oct 23. Carl flubs some lyrics, the guitar is the most prominent in the break, you can barely hear the organ – of course this is one of the great organ solos of all time, too bad it’s mixed down so low. A very rocking version though.

10. Good Vibrations – big applause again. Piano and organ, Tannerin. Before they start Mike says “what are we gonna do – 409, Surfin’ Safari . . . see you around, Carl’s gonna start this.” Kind of like he’s dismissing the song. Carl delivers a good lead vocal but the backing vocals are sloppy and initially are totally absent on the chorus. Mike does the annoying “dearly beloved” shtick during the organ on the second break.

11. Johnny B Goode – great rockin’ piano runs presumably from Bruce – could Darryl have switched to piano for this? But there’s organ as well. Guess I need to give Bruce his props. Better than the DC version, although the vocals degenerate at the very end into a group shout – but overall the vocals are much superior to the DC take.

That’s it for the 11/17 concert – after a few Al and Dennis promos (including a couple of “greatest drummers in the world” ala Endless Harmony), we move to the Boston Back Bay concert on 11/23. Same tape hiss, but the mix is much more pleasing to the ear, almost up to the DC concert. Organ and piano are the same as on 11/17 unless otherwise noted.

1. Help Me Rhonda – vocals are sloppy, Al’s mike is too low at the start of the song. Don’t hear piano or organ.

2. Barbara Ann – good guitar solo by Carl, Mike adds a “papa oom mow mow” line towards the end, solid version at least as good as the DC version. Like 11/17 this has organ but no piano – but on 11/19 in DC there’s piano and a piano solo in the break! So clearly during this tour they were experimenting with different arrangements – unless the piano wasn’t patched into the soundboard by mistake and we just can’t hear it.

3. Darlin’ – organ is up in the mix compared to 11/17, this is a fast version well played, with the cold ending worked out. Clearly bests the DC version which suffered from bass distortion and a backing vocal miscue. Best version of all the concerts.

Mike introduces Darryl and Ron.

4. Surfer Girl – someone shouts “shut up” during the intro (someone from the stage? Buffalo Springfield member? Audience member?), and Mike says “sock it to him” just before Al’s lead vocal break. While not the best live version of this song, it’s the best of this tour’s concerts, although the DC is close. Interestingly, the DC version features piano with the guitar, bass and drums, while this and the two versions on disc two feature guitar, bass, and drums only.

5. WIBN – Mike fiddles with the Tannerin before the song and says “that’s a psychodoozie, that’s my contribution to psychedelic Beach Boys music . . . what you think of Buffalo Springfield, out of sight.” Performance marred by bass distortion and vocals too low in the mix and somewhat sloppy. 11/19 performance better.

6. GOK – Mike: “Carl is going to sing the most religious song we do.” Gorgeous lead vocal, with a nice vocal round at the end. A highlight. The tempo is slightly faster than the other live takes on the tour.

7. California Girls: Mike talks over the intro – “California Girls are pregnant.” Good Mike lead, Fast tempo, and on the choruses the vocals are right on beat (unlike the single, at least in Brian’s opinion). An excellent version.

8. Wild Honey – before the song someone in the audience yells for Good Vibrations. Mike says “who said that . . . we’re gonna do it . . . oh boy and then we’re all gonna throw up.” Weird comment about their last number one hit – maybe despite its success Mike still dislikes the song? Or he’s nervous (sick to his stomach) about doing it – which I doubt because he’s been performing it for six or seven shows now. Wild Honey features a great, aggressive, all out Carl soul shout vocal, and you can hear the organ better in the break. Great version of the song, much better than the DC (which had bass and vocal distortion and started kind of rough). This is the best performance of Wild Honey on the tour.

After the song Mike talks about how he likes the rich kids in the audience – “rich kids and I are friends . . . give me your money.”

9. Good Vibrations – Mike again does his “what are we gonna do . . . 409, Surfin Safari” line, but this time the vocals are spot on throughout, lead and backing, there’s no Mike side comments during the soft sections. The best version of this arrangement yet – blows the Michigan 66 and Hawaii version out of the water.

10. I Get Around – to warm up Mike sings “me me me me – I love that word.” Interesting how Mike himself plays up his egocentric, money grubbing side to the audience. Mike clears his throat/groans loudly just before he starts singing the verse (as he does in the DC concert), but otherwise this is a solid performance – I prefer the DC one though because the backing vocals are louder in the mix.

11. Sloop John B – someone mentions how they’ve added a song, it must be this one (it’s also performed in Pittsburgh the night before). Carl turns in a strong lead, Mike starts fooling with the Tannerin and comes in late on his part.

12. Graduation Day – no piano or organ - guitar, bass, and hi hat only. The DC version features prominent piano. The vocals are too low in the mix, Mike jokes and breaks the mood during his solo break, but the harmony singing is still exquisite.

I find it interesting that they don’t play either of the two singles preceding Wild Honey, Getting’ Hungry and Heroes and Villains – Heroes was released the very end of July, only three and a half months earlier. Getting Hungry came out in September – and no songs from Smiley Smile (other than Vibrations), released Sept 18 only two months prior to this tour. Granted, Getting Hungry stiffed as a single, but Heroes went top 20 and in some markets top 10.

Here’s a brief look at disc two – it’s basically more of the same, although there are some great performances here.

The promos: a few more concert promos are on this disc – according to Badman, they were all recorded March 24, 1966 (Brad dates the Endless Harmony concert promo to March 66 as well). Derek Taylor, just employed by Brian to help launch Pet Sounds on the world, contributes to two of the promos. The most interesting one is the last track on the disc, where Brian directs Derek and Mike in a skit reminiscent of (actually a forerunner of) the Vegetables arguments tape, with Derek taking the role of Hal Blaine. Badman gives a mini transcript of the promo – it’s worth looking up – the funniest part is when Mike tells Derek he looks funny, Derek says he doesn’t like Mike’s face at all, and Mike replies “Maybe that’s because I have a beard.” Derek: “Yes, that’s because you’re bald isn’t it” and everyone breaks up laughing. There’s also some nice a capella singing on one promo: “down by the old mill stream at the Beach Boys show.”

The first concert: This is not identified on the CD but most likely it’s 11/21 Westchester New York. Badman mentions this concert was taped and lists the songs, which match (in a different order however) this set list exactly. The odd thing is that apparently Nick Grillo and Audree (presumably the Wilson matriarch) are present as well. That made me think perhaps this show was closer to home, but the tour didn’t include any West Coast dates, so maybe they did travel to Westchester to see the Boys perform. Tape hiss is less noticeable on this concert, the instruments are louder in the mix and there’s more audience noise than on the other dates. Piano and organ accompaniment is as on disc one, unless noted.

Help Me Rhonda – best version yet, better than 11/22 which follows on this disc.

Barbara Ann – guitar solo is weak, otherwise OK.

Mike: “Ron, hand me the shake and tail feather” (tambourine presumably)

Darlin – microphone problems on this one - lead vocal too loud, Carl close to clipping/distortion, while the backing vocals are too low.

Surfer Girl – Al’s vocal is inaudible at first on the break, then he sings a note out of tune and someone says “uh oh.” Al (I think it’s Al) does nail the “little one” falsetto at the end.

WIBN – Mike thanks “Danny Daniels from MCA” (?WMCA of New York? DJ?). This is the best version yet, good vocal/instrument mix, no vocal mistakes.

GOK – played softly like Lei’d in Hawaii, mess up the start of the vocal round at the end, otherwise a nice performance. Lead vocals are louder in the mix on this and the next two cuts, which is a good thing.

California Girls – Mike talks through intro, as is his wont. Tempo is a little slower than on 11/23 but Mike’s lead is much stronger on this one – I’d pick this as best performance of the song for this tour.

Wild Honey – the Tannerin is LOUD, with an aggressive Carl lead vocal. Good but not up to 11/23.

Graduation Day – “oh, hello Audree” (mom?). A little piano tinkling at the start, then just guitar, bass, and hi hat. The louder vocals in the mix make it easier to appreciate the harmonies. Excellent version, just not quite up to 11/19.

Good Vibrations – Mike: “There’s Nick Grillo . . . he’s our business manager, he counts real good . . . you’re fired!” Bruce: “He only takes 90% of our earnings . . . he gives us all an allowance, $3 a week if we’re good.”

Mike tastefully comments as they start the song “I’m picking my nose . . . I’m picking up good vibrations.” Audience screams when song starts, claps along. Mike uses his “dearly beloved” line. Despite a couple of sloppy musical transitions, a good performance.

Then the tape appears to cut off, no doubt missing the last few songs of the concert.

Next concert is Pittsburgh, 11/22. Tape hiss is less noticeable and in general the vocals are more prominent in the mix but not as harsh sounding as 11/21.

Help Me Rhonda – Mike starts playing the tambourine and yells “merry Christmas everybody” as the tambourine sounds like sleigh bells. Unless he is actually playing sleigh bells. Al’s vocal is at times too low in the mix, so this performance falls slightly below 11/21 above.

I Get Around – while all I heard was organ on 11/17, 11/19, and 11/23, here there’s piano and organ. There’s laughing during the song and Mike jokes his way through the lyrics. Not a memorable performance.

Darlin – a solid performance, with excellent lead vocal and the backing vocals higher up in the mix. Some joking around at the end.

Surfer Girl – starts well but Mike and Al’s laughing and cutting up throughout makes the song into a joke.

Mike apologizes for making Al laugh, says he was thinking about the striped shirts they used to wear. Al replies “what do you mean used to wear” – obviously he’s wearing a striped shirt!

WIBN – good version, but doesn’t best 11/21.

Mike: “This is the most religious song we do. The next most religious is 99 bottles of beer on the wall.”

GOK – Mike talks over the intro. Beautiful vocal round at the end, tempo is a little slower than 11/23. A tossup as to which is the best performance.

California Girls – “California Girls are all pregnant, that’s why we’re in Pittsburgh.” Good version but doesn’t best 11/21.

Wild Honey – backing vocals are up in the mix and so more audible than in the other takes of the song. Strong lead vocal but not as well controlled as 11/23, some off pitch moments but very enjoyable take.

Good Vibrations – another good version, has Mike’s “dearly beloved” line. I’d pick this as the best because the vocal/instrumental mix is better balanced than 11/23, although that version is great too.

Johnny B Goode – a vocal line is dropped, vocals are rough at the end as usual, but there’s a nice finish. I prefer this one to 11/23.

“Thank you very much. Good night” And there’s a tape break.

Graduation Day – the tape must have been turned back on for the encore. No piano at all, a solid performance, Mike’s solo part is too low in the mix (or sung too softly), there’s a laugh at the very end.

Sloop John B – a different arrangement than 11/23, which had piano. Here there is a xylophone or vibes as well as piano that comes in on the second verse. Carl laughs towards the end and the entire group starts shouting out the lyrics, the ending is extended and a gruff voice joins in (Dewey Martin?) at the end. After the song is over Mike thanks the audience and mentions Buffalo Springfield, so I assume he was acknowledging someone from the Springfield joining in at the end. A unique performance of the song.

So for the hell of it, I compiled what I think are the best live versions of all the songs done on this Thanksgiving tour, at least from the shows we have tapes of: 11/17, 11/19, 11/21, 11/22, and 11/23. I came up with:

Rhonda 11/21
Barbara Ann – tossup between 11/19 and 11/23
Darlin 11/23
Country Air 11/17
I Get Around 11/19
Surfer Girl 11/23
How She Boogalooed It 11/17
Wouldn’t It Be Nice 11/21
God Only Knows – tossup between 11/23 and 11/22
California Girls 11/21
Wild Honey 11/23
Good Vibrations 11/22
Johnny B Goode 11/22
Graduation Day 11/19
Sloop John B 11/22

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